Dogs May Be Key To Treating Prostate Cancer.

January 23, 2006

Researchers hope dogs hold clues to help cure prostate cancer, which impacts one in six men over their lifetime. Ohio researchers are studying cancer in dogs, looking for how advanced cases spread to the bones.

Dogs are  truly a man's best friend"The only animal that gets prostate cancer, in addition to men, are dogs and the disease is very similar in dogs as it is in men," said Dr. Thomas Rosol, of the Ohio State University Cancer Center. Until now, there hasn't been a good way to study the process. By using cancer cells taken from dogs, doctors created a new cell line -- the first that closely mimics prostate cancer cells in humans, which could someday give them new insights into treatment.

"That would be really tremendous, if down the road, we can actually inhibit the bone metastasis. This would be an enormous breakthrough for human medicine," Rosol said. Doctors said dogs may help them find a treatment that stops prostate cancer from developing in the first place.